How to Start an LLC in New Jersey in 2026: Formation, NJ-REG and First-Year Cost

Starting an LLC in New Jersey got slightly cheaper this year. Since July 1, 2026, the Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services (DORES) charges $100 to file a certificate of formation, down from $125. The process has two halves that founders often confuse: forming the company, which creates the LLC, and registering it for taxes through NJ-REG, which gives you a New Jersey tax ID and a Business Registration Certificate. After that comes a $75 annual report every year, and for larger partnerships a per-owner filing fee that most guides skip. This guide walks a first-time founder through each step in order and ends with a worked first-year budget. Fees and rules were checked against Treasury, Division of Taxation and New Jersey Business Portal material in October 2026.

Quick answer

To start an LLC in New Jersey, file a certificate of formation online with the Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services and pay $100. Name a registered agent with a New Jersey address. Then complete NJ-REG to register for taxes and get your Business Registration Certificate. Every year, file the $75 annual report by the end of your formation month.

• Formation fee cut from $125 to $100 on July 1, 2026

• The name must include Limited Liability Company, L.L.C. or LLC

• Optional: $50 name reservation; $50 alternate name

• Missing annual reports for two consecutive years can get the LLC revoked

• Partnership-taxed LLCs with 3+ owners pay $150 per owner a year with the NJ-1065

What a New Jersey LLC is and who should form one

A New Jersey LLC is formed under the Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act, Chapter 2C of Title 42 of the New Jersey Statutes, which has governed every New Jersey LLC since March 2014. It does what an LLC does everywhere: the company's debts, contracts and lawsuits belong to the company, so your home and personal savings are not at risk simply because you own or run it. That protection holds only if you treat the LLC as a genuinely separate business, with its own bank account, contracts signed in its name and records of money moving between you and the company.

New Jersey's business register sits with the Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services inside the Department of the Treasury, not with a Secretary of State. DORES handles the certificate of formation, the annual report, the Business Registration Certificate and business tax registration, so most of your state paperwork goes to one agency.

For federal tax, a single-member LLC is a disregarded entity and a multi-member LLC is a partnership unless you elect corporate treatment, and New Jersey follows that choice. New Jersey LLCs suit contractors, consultants, e-commerce sellers, restaurants, property owners and the many small firms serving the New York and Philadelphia markets. You do not need to live in New Jersey or be a US citizen to own one, but you need a registered agent with a New Jersey address. If your business really operates in New York or Pennsylvania, you would register there too, so form where you work.

New Jersey LLC at a glance (2026)

$100

Certificate of formation

from July 1, 2026

$75

Annual report

due in your formation month

$75

Reinstatement fee

plus missed reports

6.625%

Sales tax rate

statewide

Step 1: choose a name DORES will accept

The LLC Act requires the name to contain "Limited Liability Company" or the abbreviation "L.L.C." or "LLC", and allows "Limited" to be shortened to "Ltd." and "Company" to "Co." The name must be distinguishable on the state's records from other registered and reserved business names. Adding or removing the ending or punctuation does not make a name distinguishable, so search the state's business records before you file and try a few versions.

If you need to hold a name before you are ready, a name reservation costs $50. Most founders skip it and simply file the certificate of formation, which claims the name immediately. State approval is not a trademark, so check the federal trademark database too.

Alternate names. If your LLC will trade under a different name, for example "Shore Bakes" for "Shore Hospitality LLC", New Jersey lets an LLC register an alternate name with DORES for $50. LLCs register alternate names with the state rather than with the county clerk, which is where sole proprietors file trade names. Our DBA guide compares how assumed names work across states.

Step 2: appoint a registered agent

Every New Jersey LLC must keep a registered agent and a registered office in New Jersey. The agent receives lawsuits, state notices and other legal papers for the company. It can be you, another owner, a friend or a commercial registered agent service, but the agent must have a New Jersey street address. The online formation service also asks for an email address to which registered agent notifications are sent.

Commercial registered agent services in New Jersey have a number issued by the state. If you use one, you enter that number during the online filing and the service's details fill in automatically.

Registered agent options in New Jersey

	You or another person in New Jersey	Commercial agent service
Requirement	New Jersey street address	State-issued agent number and New Jersey office
Yearly cost	$0	About $50–$300 (market estimate)
Address on public record	Your home or office	The agent's office
Notifications	To the email you enter	To the service, then forwarded
Change later	$25 filing	$25 filing

Requirement

You or another person in New Jersey

New Jersey street address

Commercial agent service

State-issued agent number and New Jersey office

Yearly cost

You or another person in New Jersey

$0

Commercial agent service

About $50–$300 (market estimate)

Address on public record

You or another person in New Jersey

Your home or office

Commercial agent service

The agent's office

Notifications

You or another person in New Jersey

To the email you enter

Commercial agent service

To the service, then forwarded

Change later

You or another person in New Jersey

$25 filing

Commercial agent service

$25 filing

The commercial agent range is our estimate from published provider pricing, not an official figure. The trade-off is privacy and reliability. If you work from home, your home address becomes the company's public legal address, and if you are often away, a process server may not reach you. Changing the registered agent or registered office later costs $25, and the annual report also lets you confirm or update the agent each year.

Step 3: file the certificate of formation

You file online through the state's business formation service, the Online Business Entity Filing system run by DORES. The filing is called a public records filing for a new business entity, and for an LLC it produces a certificate of formation with a 10-digit entity ID.

The online form walks you through the business name and type, the registered agent and registered office (with the agent's email address for notifications), the main business address and the people involved in the company. Most small businesses keep the certificate short and put their rules in an operating agreement. Payment is by card or e-check.

Forming a New Jersey LLC

1. 1

   Search the name

   Use the state's business name search to check that your name is distinguishable.

2. 2

   Open the Online Business Entity Filing service

   Choose to form a domestic limited liability company. Have the registered agent's details and email address ready.

3. 3

   Complete the public records filing

   Enter the name, registered agent and office, main business address and the details the form asks for about the people in the company.

4. 4

   Pay $100

   Pay by card or e-check. Download the certificate of formation and note your 10-digit entity ID.

   Tip: Write down your formation month. The $75 annual report is due by the last day of that month every year.

5. 5

   Complete NJ-REG

   Register for state tax and employer purposes straight after formation. You will receive an NJ tax ID and can print your Business Registration Certificate.

Processing. Online filings are normally processed immediately, so the LLC usually exists the same day. Paper filings take longer.

Why filings get rejected. The common problems are a name that is not distinguishable, a registered office outside New Jersey or given only as a PO box, and incomplete required fields. Correct the item and refile.

Step 4: register with NJ-REG and get your Business Registration Certificate

Forming the LLC does not register it for taxes. New Jersey asks every business that operates in the state to complete Form NJ-REG with DORES, which sets up the tax and employer accounts you need and issues your New Jersey tax ID, usually your federal EIN plus three digits. There is no state fee for NJ-REG.

Once registered, you can print a Business Registration Certificate (BRC). You need it to contract with the State of New Jersey or any public agency in the state, such as a town or school district, to apply for state grants and tax credits, and in some licensing processes. Our New Jersey business license guide explains the BRC, the absence of a general state business licence and the town-level licences many municipalities require.

Sales tax. If you sell taxable goods or services, NJ-REG also registers you for sales tax and issues a Certificate of Authority to collect it, which must be displayed at your place of business. The Division of Taxation asks new sellers to register at least at least 15 business days before starting business. The statewide rate is 6.625%, with a reduced rate in Urban Enterprise Zones for qualifying sellers. Our New Jersey sales tax guide covers rates, filing and exemptions.

Employees. If you hire, NJ-REG registers you for state withholding, unemployment and disability insurance contributions. You also need workers' compensation insurance from the first employee. Our guide to hiring your first employee covers the federal side.

Step 5: EIN, operating agreement and bank account

Apply for an employer identification number from the IRS as soon as the certificate of formation is filed. It costs Free ($0) and takes one online session; our EIN guide walks through it. You need it for NJ-REG and to open a bank account.

New Jersey does not ask you to file an operating agreement, but the LLC Act lets the agreement set most of the rules, from profit splits and voting to what happens when a member leaves. Without one, the Act's defaults apply, and they may not match what you and your co-owners expect. A single-member LLC benefits from a short agreement too, because banks ask for it and courts look at it when deciding whether the company is genuinely separate from you.

Open the bank account in the LLC's exact legal name and put every business payment through it. Mixing personal and business money is the most common reason a court ignores an LLC's liability protection.

Beneficial ownership reporting. Since FinCEN's March 2025 interim final rule, companies formed in the United States do not file beneficial ownership information reports, so a new New Jersey LLC has no BOI filing (current position: Not required for US-formed companies).

A New Jersey LLC's calendar (formed in May)

May, year 1

Certificate of formation filed; $100 paid; EIN obtained

Straight after formation

NJ-REG completed; BRC printed; sales tax registration at least at least 15 business days before trading

Monthly or quarterly

Sales tax returns due the 20th of the month after the period

With the NJ-1065 partnership return

Partnership filing fee for 3+ owners, plus 50% prepayment

By May 31, year 2 and every year

Annual report and $75 fee

After two consecutive years of missed reports

LLC can be revoked; reinstatement $75 plus missed reports

Step 6: the annual report and staying in good standing

Every New Jersey LLC files an annual report with DORES. It confirms that your registered agent and address are current and costs $75. The report is due by the last day of your anniversary month, the month in which you formed the LLC, starting the year after formation. An LLC formed in May files by May 31 every year.

The state says you must file even if it sends no notice, so put the date in your calendar the day you form. The Treasury offers a free online tool that shows when an entity's annual reports are due and links to filing.

Revocation and reinstatement. A business that fails to file annual reports for two consecutive years can have its certificate revoked. A revoked LLC risks its liability protection, cannot get a valid Business Registration Certificate and may lose public contracts. To reinstate, you file every missing annual report at $75 each, pay the $75 reinstatement fee and meet any tax clearance requirements. If the LLC was revoked after missing two reports, the minimum to reinstate is two reports plus the reinstatement fee, $225, before any tax issues.

How New Jersey LLC owners are taxed

Owners' income tax. A single-member or partnership-taxed LLC does not pay New Jersey income tax itself. The profit flows to the owners, who pay New Jersey gross income tax at graduated rates from 1.4% to 10.75%, with the top rate applying to taxable income above $1 million. Non-resident owners pay New Jersey tax on their share of New Jersey-source profit.

Partnership filing fee. This is the New Jersey cost many founders miss. An LLC taxed as a partnership that has more than two owners and New Jersey source income pays a filing fee of $150 per owner with its NJ-1065 return, up to a $250,000 maximum. The fee is not prorated for owners who joined part-way through the year, and the partnership must also prepay 50% of the next year's fee. An LLC with one or two owners does not pay it. A three-owner LLC pays $450 for the year plus a $225 prepayment.

Pass-through business alternative income tax (BAIT). New Jersey lets pass-through entities elect to pay tax at the entity level, with owners claiming a credit, which can help owners with the federal limit on state and local tax deductions. Whether it helps depends on your federal position; ask a tax preparer before electing.

Federal self-employment tax applies to the profits of members who work in the business. An S corporation election can reduce it once profits support a reasonable salary. See LLC vs S corp and how to pay yourself from an LLC.

What it costs: a worked first-year budget

The table shows three realistic New Jersey LLCs. State fees are official; the agent line is an estimate. Municipal licences vary by town and are left out of the totals.

The café's partnership filing fee is paid with its first NJ-1065, typically early in its second calendar year, together with a $225 prepayment for the following year. We put it in the first-year column so you budget for it.

What the table leaves out. Municipal mercantile licences, health permits, Home Improvement Contractor registration for residential contractors, insurance and professional fees all sit on top. Our New Jersey business license guide covers these.

Year two onwards. The state's recurring charge is the $75 annual report, plus the partnership fee for LLCs with three or more owners. That is higher than Colorado and lower than New York, where a new LLC also faces a publication requirement, as our New York LLC guide explains.

Worked examples

A Newark IT consultant. Aisha forms "Ironbound Data LLC" online on August 4, 2026, names herself as registered agent at her Newark office and pays $100. She gets her EIN that afternoon and completes NJ-REG the next day, printing her BRC because she plans to bid for city IT contracts. Her services are not taxable, so she does not collect sales tax. Each August she files the $75 annual report.

A Princeton gift shop with a brand name. Tom reserves "Nassau Makers LLC" for $50 while signing a lease, then forms the LLC and registers the alternate name "Nassau Paper Co." for $50. He completes NJ-REG with sales tax selected well over at least 15 business days before opening, displays his Certificate of Authority at the till and charges 6.625% on taxable sales.

A Jersey City café with three owners. Three friends form an LLC using a commercial registered agent and register for sales tax, withholding and unemployment through NJ-REG. Because the LLC is taxed as a partnership with three owners, its first NJ-1065 carries a partnership filing fee of $150 per owner times three, $450, plus a $225 prepayment toward the next year.

New Jersey LLC launch checklist

0/10

• Name searched and distinguishable on the state's records
• Registered agent with a New Jersey address (or a service's state-issued number)
• Certificate of formation filed and $100 paid; entity ID noted
• EIN obtained from the IRS
• NJ-REG completed and Business Registration Certificate printed
• Sales tax Certificate of Authority if selling taxable goods or services
• Operating agreement signed by all members
• Business bank account opened in the LLC's name
• Formation month in your calendar for the $75 annual report
• Partnership filing fee budgeted if the LLC has three or more owners

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Common mistakes and how to fix them

Budgeting the old $125 fee. The certificate of formation has cost $100 since July 1, 2026. Filing services that still quote $125 are either out of date or adding a margin.

Stopping after formation. The certificate of formation creates the LLC but does not register it for taxes. Without NJ-REG you have no tax accounts and no BRC, which you need for public contracts and grants.

Missing the annual report because no letter came. The state says you must file whether or not you receive a notice. Two missed years can end in revocation.

Forgetting the partnership filing fee. A three-owner LLC that files its NJ-1065 without the fee faces penalties and interest. Budget $150 per owner for each owner.

Paying look-alike mailers. Private companies send letters offering to file annual reports or provide certificates for far more than the state charges. File the $75 annual report yourself on the state's website.

Official links

• Online Business Entity Filing (certificate of formation)Form an LLC; $100
• NJ Business Portal — Register your businessFormation, EIN and NJ-REG steps
• NJ Business Portal — Taxes and annual report$75 annual report
• DORES — FeesFormation, reservation, alternate name, agent change, reinstatement
• Business Registration CertificateGet or verify a BRC
• IRS — Apply for an EINFree

Out-of-state LLCs doing business in New Jersey

An LLC formed elsewhere that does business in New Jersey registers with DORES as a foreign LLC, keeps a New Jersey registered agent, completes NJ-REG and files the same $75 annual report each year. Check the DORES fee page for the current foreign registration fee. If you live and work in New Jersey, forming here from the start avoids paying a second state's fees.

What to do next

Check your name with the LLC name checker, choose a registered agent, then file the certificate of formation and complete NJ-REG the same week. Use the startup cost calculator to add the $100 filing, agent and any partnership fee to your opening budget, and the sales tax calculator to price goods with New Jersey's 6.625% included. If you are still choosing a structure, read LLC vs sole proprietorship first.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to start an LLC in New Jersey?

The Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services charges $100 to file a certificate of formation, down from $125 since July 1, 2026. Registering for taxes through NJ-REG has no state fee. Optional extras are a $50 name reservation and a $50 alternate name. From the following year you file an annual report for $75.

When is the New Jersey LLC annual report due?

By the last day of your anniversary month, the month in which the LLC was formed, every year from the year after formation. An LLC formed on May 8 files by May 31 each year. The fee is $75, and you must file even if the state sends no reminder. Missing two consecutive years of reports can lead to revocation.

Do I need a registered agent in New Jersey?

Yes. Every New Jersey LLC must name a registered agent with a New Jersey address who receives legal papers for the company. It can be you, another owner or a commercial registered agent service, which has a state-issued number you enter during formation. Changing the agent or office later costs $25.

What happens if my New Jersey LLC is revoked?

An LLC that misses annual reports for two consecutive years can have its certificate revoked. You can reinstate by filing all missing reports, paying $75 for each, the $75 reinstatement fee and any tax clearance requirements. Until then the LLC cannot obtain a valid Business Registration Certificate.

Do New Jersey LLCs pay a partnership filing fee?

A multi-member LLC taxed as a partnership with more than two owners and New Jersey source income pays a partnership filing fee of $150 per owner, up to $250,000, with its NJ-1065 return, plus a 50% prepayment of next year's fee. Single-member LLCs and two-owner LLCs do not pay it.

How long does it take to form an LLC in New Jersey?

Online filings through the state's business formation service are usually processed straight away, and you can download the certificate of formation once it is filed. Then complete NJ-REG for your tax accounts. If you will collect sales tax, register at least at least 15 business days before you start trading.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 9 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1. 1.Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services — Fees — NJ Department of the Treasury · accessed 9 October 2026
2. 2.Taxes and Annual Report — New Jersey Business Portal · accessed 9 October 2026
3. 3.Register Your Business — New Jersey Business Portal · accessed 9 October 2026
4. 4.Online Business Entity Filing — NJ Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services · accessed 9 October 2026
5. 5.Business Entity Reinstatement — NJ Department of the Treasury · accessed 9 October 2026
6. 6.P.L. 2013, c. 276 — Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act — New Jersey Legislature (via Rutgers Law Library) · accessed 9 October 2026
7. 7.2025 NJ-1065 instructions — NJ Division of Taxation · accessed 9 October 2026
8. 8.NJ Income Tax Rates — NJ Division of Taxation · accessed 9 October 2026
9. 9.Sales and Use Tax publication S&U-4 — NJ Division of Taxation · accessed 9 October 2026
10. 10.Get an employer identification number — IRS · accessed 9 October 2026
11. 11.Beneficial Ownership Information — FinCEN · accessed 9 October 2026